Whales face new bloodbath

[thomas]

Reported by the Observer:

Whales face new bloodbath if Japan wins hunting vote

Hunted to the brink of extinction, their relentless slaughter became the first great symbol of the overexploitation of the earth's resources. Now, for the first time since commercial whaling was banned almost two decades ago, the recovery of the species is threatened by a return to the bloodbath of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Talks this week could map out the fate of the world's largest mammal as the credibility of the international agreement that controls whaling faces its sternest test. A coalition of pro-whaling nations led by Japan is set to hijack the talks at the International Whaling Commission amid allegations that votes have been bought by bribery. [...]

Acrimony between the two camps has been heightened by allegations that Japan, which claims eating whale is an important part of its cultural heritage, is still offering multi-million-pound fisheries aid grants to less wealthy states in return for pro-whaling votes. Figures from Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reveal the country gave about £70 million in fisheries aid to eight countries last year, which may have persuaded some to back Japan's whaling stance. Critics point to St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines, which supported conservation, but performed a U-turn after senior politicians were entertained by the Japanese government. [...]

Another hotly debated point will be Japanese claims that whales are to blame for declining marine stocks because they empty the seas of huge amounts of fish.

=> http://www.observer.co.uk/internatio...977768,00.html


Tokyo may abandon whaling talks

=> http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worl.../14/2003055208

Japan to resist push to enhance whaling body's conservation role

=> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...y_030615040752

[thomas]

Update: Japan boycotts IWC talks on whale stocks, whale-killing

=> http://home.kyodo.co.jp/all/display.jsp?an=20030617245

Quote from J@panInc's newsletter:

Commentary: Right next to the 109 building in Shibuya is a restaurant that specializes in whale meat served in every imaginable form. It's hard to imagine that sort of establishment thriving in any other major metropolis in the world. That said, writer Deb Gardiner exposes some interesting things about whaling in our June issue. Here's some food for thought from her story: "The Japanese seem to take the blame for all the whaling in the world...Conspiracy theories seem to be the fuel the antis run on. Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Canada take twice as many whales as Japan." (From a woman at a whaling nonprofit in Canada).

[Timsan]

Eskimo's eating whale as has traditionally been done for centuries, good. Commercial whale hunting, bad.

[Hachiko]

Let the Inuit (IMHO the correct term for Eskimo) whale-hunt, since they have done it for centuries, but for Japan to commercially whale-hunt...thumbs down on that move. That's hitting way below the belt.